1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to the field of networked data collection, and more particularly to traffic reduction in applications that collect data over a network.
2. Description of Related Art
A growing number of Internet businesses collect data from users, or clients, for processing at a server. User data may be required, for example, to book airline flights, to process product orders, to process subscriptions, and the like. The user data is transmitted to the server in some predetermined format, where the data is processed so that appropriate action may be taken.
Data gathering has been standardized somewhat, as in the <form> tags developed for the HyperText Markup Language (“HTML”). These tags provided a set of structured HTML tools for presenting data fields to a user in a form suitable for local display. Data field entries in such a form may be transmitted to the server for processing. As a significant disadvantage, such forms may be communicated between the server and the client only as integral units. For example, where the form includes several drop-down lists of options, all of these lists must be transmitted with the original form. If the form is returned to the server incomplete, the server will typically generate an error page, and optionally retransmit the entire form to the client.
This disadvantage is exacerbated where intermediate processing is required. For example, within a form for an airline reservation, a user may be asked to select flight options. The server may receive this information, and respond with a new form that includes flights from which the user may select. Although this information exchange takes place within a single client visit to a Web site, the transaction requires at least two consecutive HTML pages of forms, and may require additional pages and forms for options such as payment, mailing address, etc. Each form, each error message, and each intermediate processing step has associated therewith additional network traffic and overhead as additional HTML pages are generated and presented to a client.
There remains a need for a networked data collection system that reduces network traffic associated with data collection.